Professional Java Custom Ui Components by K F. Krutsch, D S. Cargo, V Howlett (Wrox)

[Johannes de Jong]

Professional Java Custom UI Components takes the reader through a planning, design, and implementation philosophy for creating custom user interface components. Hints and tips are discussed, giving important insight for creating components. The authors concentrated on the basic principles of design without creating another reference book. Also, rather than laying out all the nitty gritty code detail, the most interesting portions are highlighted and discussed. A handful of custom components are built to demonstrate these principles. Both the source code and documentation can be downloaded from WROX, and are copyrighted by Krutsch Associates, Inc.
The book tour starts with a discussion of the user interface design, the importance of a good interface that is intuitive to use, and the attention to detail required for a UI component. The authors take the reader through the planning and implementation of a toggle switch and LED component, implementing the event model, specifying the parent container interaction, and rendering strategy. Many tips are provided so that the reader may avoid common pit falls. More complex components are discussed and implemented.
The book ends with an overall software development process and component maintenance. Until this point, the focus has been the �how� of building custom components, now the discussion shifts into a larger context. The authors stress the importance of both before and after the initial implementation.
I recommend reading this book for anyone designing and implementing custom UI components.
(Bill Nicolai - GreenHorn, September 2001)
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